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Thursday, November 24, 2011

The Asia Pacific Screen Academy held their ceremony for the 5th annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSAs) in the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Interestingly, these awards don't just consider films from the Pacific region but from 70 countries and areas from all of Asia including Russia and the Middle East.

The top prize Best Feature Award went to the Iranian film Jodaeiye Nader az Simin (A Separation) by Asghar Farhadi. It had led the nominations with four along with Turkey's Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia). A Separation has won numerous prizes this year including the Golden Bear at Berlin. It was one of the first recipients of APSA's film fund.

Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia), however, was a multiple winner. It picked up Best Directing (Nuri Bilge Ceylan) and Best Cinematography. In addition, producer Zeynep Özbatur Atakan was awarded the Screen International Jury Grand Prize.

The Best Animated Feature Award went to Korea's Madangeul naon amtak (Leafie). Jag Var Värd 50 Lamm (I Was Worth 50 Sheep) was named Best Documentary. The Best Children's Feature was Azerbaijan's Buta.
The International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF) presented the FIAPF Award for outstanding achievement in film in the Asia-Pacific region to Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization presents the UNESCO Award for outstanding contribution to the promotion and preservation of cultural diversity through film went to Australian indigenous filmmaker Ivan Sen for Toomelah.

APSA winners and nominees automatically get inducted into the APSA Academy and become eligible for funding from the MPA APSA Academy Film Fund. APSA announced this year's recipients of four $25,000 awards for new film projects in development: Shawkat Amin Korki (Iraq/Kurdistan, nominated for Directing in 2007 with Crossing The Dust) for Memories on Stone; Peyman Moadi, (Iran, nominated for Acting in 2011's A Separation) for Those Days; Maryam Ebrahimi (Iran-Sweden, winner of 2011 Best Documentary Award with I Was Worth 50 Sheep) for the documentary Burqas Behind Bars; and Pryas Gupta (India, Jury Prize winner in 2008 with The Prisoner) for The Cricket Tree. The APSA Children's Film Fund awarded two $20,000 prizes to Garin Nugroho (Indonesia, nominated for Best Film in 2007 with Opera Jawa) for The Seen and The Unseen, and Songtaijia (China/Tibet, nominated for Best Cinematography in 2011's Old Dog) for The Stone with Nine Eyes.

Winners for the APSAs are decided by a jury of industry professionals. The jury president was Hong Kong producer Nansun Shi. Also on the jury was co-director of the Toronto International Film Festival Cameron Bailey, as well as APSA-winning filmmaker Samuel Maoz (Lebanon), Ming Zhenjiang (Executive Chairman of the China Film Producers Association), Australian distributor Alan Finney, and Japanese director/actress Kaori Momoi.